Bound
by sisana
Summary: PRDT - Set after episode 30. In the face of problems, one could easily despair. Left alone, sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness of his own twisted and pained soul, a single ranger may prove to be the greatest enemy ever.


One last blast and the creature burst into million pieces with a sickening cry of pain. Trent sighed heavily, another one down. But who knew how many his father could make? With his gene randomizer the possibilities were endless. And those monsters were getting stronger and stronger. The other rangers were having difficulties dealing with them and he'd had to save them more often than he wanted. And they were starting to get angry at him; he could feel it by the way they all looked at him.

"Nice of you to show up." Conner's voice held a strange undertone that Trent didn't feel good with. The red ranger powered down and the other two followed suit. Trent, however, didn't. They were in the middle of the town and he didn't want to risk being seen. Besides, the fight wasn't over.

"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, guys." he said, expecting to hear the usual 'no problem' answer.

"Yeah, what were you doing?" Ethan asked, sounding the exact same uncomfortable way. It was as if they were blaming him for something.

"Come on, guys, give him a brake." Kira rolled her eyes. At least she wasn't acting strange.

Just then, Mesogog decided to make his monster big and not wasting another second, Trent called his zords and the fight started. However, for some reason, the others never joined him. It didn't matter, thought, because he destroyed the creature quite easily. Looking down, he saw the other three rangers just standing where he had left them. Kira was saying something and she didn't look very happy with them.

"Is everything alright guys?" Trent asked after sending off the zords and coming down and powering down.

"Nah," Conner shook his head. "We knew you could handle it." and with that he and Ethan turned and walked away.

"I'm sorry about that, Trent." Kira smiled apologetically and ran off after the boys.

Shortly after, he followed. He hadn't been walking long when he suddenly felt weak and dizzy. He leaned against the wall of a building and brought one hand to his forehead. His head suddenly hurt so much that he felt his eyes tearing up. A pained sound escaped his throat and he slowly slid to the ground. A sickening feeling welled up in his chest. He'd felt such pain only once in his life and he definitely didn't want to go through all that again.

"Hey, you ok?" someone asked, placing a hand on his shoulder and in a moment the pain was gone and he felt fine.

"Yeah, I just…" Trent looked around in confusion and then up at the woman who had just brought him back to his senses. "Thanks." he said and bolted up and ran. He had to get to Dr. Oliver and fast. What he'd just felt wasn't just an ordinary headache and he had to do something before he lost it again.

"What's wrong with you, guys?" Kira asked angrily. They were in Dr. Oliver's house and the two boys were still in their foul mood.

"Come on, Kira, don't you see what's been going on lately?" Conner asked incredulously, the girl looked at him in startled confusion. "A monster comes, we go and fight it and while we're at it, the White Ranger comes and saves the day!"

"He's never around." Ethan added, he sounded just as angry as his friend. "Haven't you ever wondered what he's been doing while we're having our asses kicked?"

"Now, that's just it, Ethan!" Kira exclaimed. "You're both angry that he's so much powerful than us! What does it matter when he comes? He does come, doesn't he? Unlike you two, who left him to…"

"Kira." a serious voice startled them and they turned to see Trent standing by the door. His face was unreadable. "This past week I've been wondering what's gotten into you to avoid me so much, I guess I would've been better off not knowing."

Just then, Dr. Oliver climbed the stairs from the basement and stopped at the last step, looking at his four students with surprise. "Hey, guys, I thought I heard you…" he trailed off, seeing the looks on their faces.

"Here you go, Dr. O." Trent walked to the black ranger and gave him a disc. "I hope it helps." and with that said, he turned and left the house.

"Now, can anyone tell me what's going on?" Tommy asked. He was a little annoyed at his helmet since he couldn't glare at his students but decided that the anger in his voice said it all.

Elsa watched the recording of the last battle thoughtfully. If it wasn't for the white ranger her master would've destroyed the others long ago. After some upgrades, the gene randomizer was now able to produce stronger monster that had proved to be quite a challenge for the other four rangers. But judging from what she was currently watching, the white ranger and the other three weren't on best terms.

"If only we could use that to our advantage." Elsa mussed.

"Use what?" Zeltrax, who had just entered, walked to her and looked at the monitor. It showed the white ranger's megazord fighting alone and the other three rangers standing on the ground, unmorphed. "I see." the amusement in his voice couldn't be mistaken.

"We could try to reawaken his evil side." Elsa said and paced around slowly. "But we have to catch him first… which, unfortunately, is impossible."

"I thought the evil encoding in his gem was destroyed." Zeltrax said, sounding confused.

"Don't be stupid." Elsa spat. She felt like she was talking to an idiot. "There was no encoding. Didn't I tell you? That gem is pure evil and it was only suppressed."

The two remained quiet for a while. They were so absorbed in their own thoughts that they never noticed when Mesogog entered. He walked to the monitor and snickered, startling his subordinates. They turned sharply and looked at each other. Their master was looking at their newest failure and there was nothing they could say or do to apologize for it.

"Keep the attacks coming." Mesogog ordered. "Don't give them a moment of rest. Sooner or later, something very interesting will happen." he then turned to glare at them. "It better be sooner, though."

"You're not being fair, guys." Dr. Oliver sighed. Kira had told him about her friends' unforgivable behavior toward Trent while they had just stood aside and looked stubbornly angry.

"Oh, really?" Conner snapped. "Then, can you tell us what he's been doing while we've been saving the city?"

"Yes, I can." Tommy was angry with his students. "He's been helping me build a device that'll turn me back to normal. I can't blame him for having faith in you. And I can only blame myself for not seeing where this has led to."

"He should've told us." Ethan said, feeling the first hints of guilt welling up inside him.

"We have to apologize, guys." Kira said and looked at Conner pointedly.

"Fine." he sighed. Then he looked up at Tommy. "But something's been bugging me for some time. How come he's so strong?"

"I believe it has something to do with his gem having bonded to his DNA." Dr. Oliver explained. "The gem is a part of him now and he has greater access to its powers."

"How come we're not like that?" Kira asked.

"When me and Anton found the gems, they were highly radioactive. So, we tried to and managed to make them safe. Otherwise the same thing that happened to Trent might have happened to you as well." Tommy replied.

"If I'm not mistaken, Trent can't take his bracelet off." Ethan said.

"That's right." the black ranger nodded. "And let me tell you something, it's doing him more bad than good."

"Why?" Conner asked. "I mean, he's strong and…"

"I've been running some tests on him and…" Tommy paused. "The white gem is changing him."

"Into what?" Kira asked, shocked.

"Honestly, I have no idea." the black ranger shook his head. "We've been trying to remove the gem ever since he defeated the white ranger clone. He told me he's been feeling strange since then."

"Listen, guys, we've gotta find him." Ethan said. "We ticked him off. Who knows what he'll do."

Just then, the telephone rang. It was Hayley and Tommy put her on the speaker.

"Hey, Hayley, what's up?" Conner asked.

"Well, Trent's here and he's not looking too good." she said, sounding a little hesitant. "Has anything happened?"

"We'll tell you later. Just keep him there." Kira said and she and her two friends ran out.

Tommy cursed under his breath for not being able to follow them. He wanted to help Trent just as much as the others did, maybe even more. He was just glad Kira was there because the two boys were too quick to judge and often wrong. Deciding there was no point in wasting time thinking, he decided to get back to work and finish that device. He was sick and tired of that suit already.

"Hey, guys." Hayley greeted the three teenagers at the doors of the Cyberspace cafe. "What's going on?"

"Where is he?" Kira asked urgently.

"Over there." Hayley pointed at a back table in the darkest and remotest spot of the room.

"Trent," Kira started hesitantly. He looked up calmly. The other two boys shifted on their feet uncomfortably. "Dr. O told us about what you two have been doing."

"Yeah, and we came to apologize." Ethan added and Conner nodded.

Trent observed them for a second. They looked earnest enough. "It's alright, guys." he shrugged. "I should've told you." he was about to continue but Conner spoke first.

"Yeah, we thought the worst, man." the red ranger said, sitting down on a chair by the table. Trent looked confused. "I mean, we all know what you do when you're ticked off, and that thing about you changing because of the dino gem…"

"Dr. O told you about that, too?" it wasn't a question actually and Kira didn't miss how Trent's expression darkened.

"Look, Trent, we want to help you." she said, trying to sound reassuring. "Whatever you're going through, you can count on us to help you deal with it."

"Yeah, just don't go crazy on us again." Ethan said and the yellow ranger honestly wanted to hit him.

"I'll try." Trent nodded with a forced smile and stood up. "See you guys later."

As soon as he left, Hayley joined the three teenagers and sat on the chair that Trent had just vacated. "Is now a good time to fill me in?" she asked.

"It's a long story." Kira sighed. She was angry with her two friends and whether they realized it or not, what had happened today didn't put them in very good light. So, she decided to let them ruin Hayley's opinion of them themselves. And that's exactly what they did.

"From what I heard, you're angry that he's stronger than you." Hayley concluded.

"That's not true!" Conner protested and the woman in front of him nodded skeptically. He turned to Ethan for support but the boy only swallowed and looked away guiltily.

"I see at least one of you has come back to his senses." Hayley said with a smirk and stood up to go back to the bar.

Trent walked slowly through town. He didn't feel like going home yet. It meant that he would have to see his father and if he wasn't there he didn't trust himself that he wasn't going to go after Mesogog. And who knew what Elsa and Zeltrax had prepared for him in that lab. He had enough problems as it was and most definitely didn't want to add some more to the list. But where was he supposed to go now? Apart from the rangers and Hayley, he didn't have many friends and none of them were reliable. And besides, he didn't want to risk their safety.

"Trent," a voice startled him and when he looked up, he saw that a black car had stopped next to him.

"Dad…" the boy felt like groaning. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way home. Get in." Anton Mercer motioned with his head and with a feeling of defeat, his son slipped inside. "Everything alright at school?"

"Yeah." Trent nodded, looking out the window. "I'm just tired."

"And that's why you decided to walk home?" his father asked, rising a brow in question.

"I just needed some air." the boy said through gritted teeth. He did his best not to snap but if his father asked him just one more question, he swore he would jump out of the car. He was sick of this double life they were living. They were pretending to be the parent and child that they had been before all that craziness with the rangers and Mesogog but in reality, Trent never knew when his father would snap and Mesogog would take over. "Dad, how much time do you need?"

"I don't know." Anton shook his head, fully aware of what his son meant. "But don't worry. I will find a way."

TBC


End file.
